I haven't played since about 05-06..been seeing weird items such as Grief of Doom, and Spirit of Exile..etc etc..
I notice that GoD has same stats as a regular Grief berserker axe....So what makes it much more expensive? What is it that are so special about these newer items? To me they seem the exact same

Far from exactly the same. Much more rare, harder to find. They have added features.

hacks

Runeword stats are the same.
They may have different level requirements and rune bonuses.